Nigeria reach AYC semi-final, holders Ghana out

Nigeria's Suswam (right) tries to prevent Gambia's Gassama from controlling the ball

Nigeria reached the semi-finals of the Africa Youth Championship (AYC) when defeating Gambia 2-0 in Group B on Sunday.

The result means the Flying Eagles are also through to the Under-20 World Cup to be played in Colombia in July.

African and world title holders Ghana failed to advance to the last four after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Cameroon in the group's other game.

Cameroon topped the group with seven points, Nigeria finished in second place with six points, Ghana's two points gave them third place while bottom side Gambia had a point.

Going into the final group game, Nigeria needed to win to avoid any surprises from closest rivals Ghana and the Flying Eagles did just that with two second-half goals.

Stanley Okoro put the Flying Eagles in the lead in the 65th minute and Ramon Azeez added another 12 minutes later to seal the victory.

Ghana needed a win against Cameroon to have any chance of advancing but they failed to produce the much-needed victory as Kwame Nsor's early strike was cancelled out by Emmanuel Mbongo in the 90th minute.

Nigeria will play Mali in the semi-finals on Thursday while Cameroon take on Egypt in the day's other game.